New friends, Old problems
by wayofthepen
Summary: Weiss and Blake find themselves called upon by opposite sides of a dispute at a Schnee dust mine. But those involved cannot see them as hunters, and it is demanded that the two girls return to playing old roles. The Schnee Heiress, and the White Fang assassin. Ficlet, disconnected scenes. Hints of monochrome.
1. Intro, memories

_I've been feeling a little burned-out lately, and suddenly having an idea for a new RWBY fic didn't help at all. The complete story had the potential to be longer than anything I've ever done, and I got stuck between inspiration and exhaustion. Hence, I've only written out those scenes that stood out strongest in my mind. Take from them and fill in the gaps as you will._

* * *

><p>"Come in, everyone."<p>

Ozpin stood behind his desk, looking tired. Team RWBY stepped in and made a line as he sighed and turned towards them.

"Beacon is prepared to send aid in response to a recent series of grimm attacks. It's a task I believe your team is uniquely suited to handle, though this particular mission has the potential to become…problematic, and I'll understand if you don't feel up to the task."

"There's nothing this team can't handle."

Ozpin managed a small grin at Yang's quip, but there wasn't much mirth in it. With a gesture, a screen appeared in the air, showing a map and a location far to the north of Vale.

"A Schnee dust mine to the south of Vale has come under attack by grimm, and there have already been several fatalities. It seems that these grimm have learned to evade the existing security measures and are making hit-and-run attacks before retreating into the wilderness. Complicating matters are agitators believed to be members of the White Fang, who are claiming the breaches of security are the result of negligence on the part of the management. They're stirring up unrest among the mainly-fauna workforce and calling for…action to be taken."

Standing together, Blake and Weiss both resisted the urge to glance in the other's direction.

"The terrain is treacherous and the location isolated." Ozpin continued. "When the matter was brought to my attention, I was able to convince the Vale Council that sending a group of hunters would not…aggravate the situation as a military response might, over the objections of Mr. Schnee."

"You spoke with my father?"

Weiss' posture was far less confident than it was a moment before.

"Yes. He gave the Council and I the impression that his company would be taking a hard-line stance on all future situations involving the White Fang. Thankfully the Council agreed with my assessment of the situation, and I believe a team with such diverse…backgrounds as yours would be best suited to handle this issue."

"I'll do it." Weiss took a step forwards, feet coming together and snapping to attention. "It's my responsibility as the company heiress, and as a huntress."

"You mean, we'll do it." Ruby leaned over.

"Oh, right."

Yang grunted in agreement, and Blake just nodded.

"We'll do it!" Ruby pumped a fist into the air.

"Then I wish you all luck, and be careful. Not all dangers to a hunter are as straightforward as an angry grimm. You will need to show care and use discretion when dealing with each of the factions present in this dispute, and prevent any one group from destabilizing the situation any further."

After team RWBY had left his office, Ozpin remained staring at the reports hovering in the air behind is desk. It really was a strange twist of fate that had arranged for the heiress of the Schnee dust company and a former member of the White Fang to come to Beacon as almost exactly the same time.

Manipulating events to get them on the same team had been a risk, there were so many things that could have gone wrong as a result. But the two of them, working together…it opened new possibilities for reducing tension between humans and fauna that he would have once thought to be impossible, even in his most optimistic moments.

* * *

><p>"We checked out the defenses. They're pretty tight." As she spoke, Yang spread a map on the table between them that showed the borders of the mining colony. "I just can't figure out how a grimm could get in, kill someone, and get out without being spotted."<p>

Weiss and Blake stepped over to examine the map and the annotations Yang had made, and at first glance, they had to agree. They also kept a polite distance between each other. The situation they had become embroiled in was hitting every nerve they had.

"I spoke with the site supervisor and each of the senior staff." Weiss sat down and folded her hands in her lap, her posture stiff and formal. "I'm not getting any impression of lax safety procedures or abuse towards the workforce."

"But every fauna I talked to was terrified." Blake sat opposite Weiss, tense and anxious. "There are rumors among the fauna here that make it sound like this place is going to become another Belasco."

"Belasco?" Ruby asked.

"Belasco-/It was-"

Weiss and Blake shared a very uncomfortable look. Blake was the first to look away, and Weiss took that as an invitation to speak first.

"Lake Belasco was a major Schnee mining operation." Weiss began, trying to keep her tone neutral. "The location was isolated, so workers were dropped in by airship and had to live on-site for the duration of their employment."

"And their contracts stated that anyone who elected to quit and return home with the supply ships would not be paid unless they completed a full shift" Blake continued. "Six months of backbreaking labor in horrible conditions."

"Safety regulations were ignored, and it was later discovered that the site foreman was also embezzling funds and stealing supplies to sell on the black market. As a result, the site was left dangerously under-equipped to defend itself."

"When a horde of grimm were drawn to the camp by the misery of the workers, the defences were overrun within minutes, and the workers were slaughtered. A few managed to escape into the mines and seal the entrance. By the time help arrived, between the grimm, starvation, and despair…less than a dozen faunas were still alive out of a crew of almost six hundred. The Schnee company staff lived apart from the workers in an armored bunker, and escaped without a single injury."

Yang and Ruby both looked back and forth between the girls sitting across from them. Hearing them speak in turns, flat and emotionless…it was making their stomachs twist.

"Of course, after the truth was found out the foreman and his accomplices were charged with embezzlement and several other crimes."

"None of which were related to the deaths of the workers. The Schnee dust company as a whole was not held legally accountable for the actions of those responsible."

Blake's eyes were glistening, and she wiped at them with her hands. Weiss opened her mouth, closed it, and looked like she very much wanted to say something. Instead, she waited for Blake to compose herself by smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles in her dress, and when she spoke next, her voice was much softer.

"But before he and his accomplices could be arrested, they disappeared."

"The 'Belasco fiasco' became a rallying cry for the White Fang and helped the militant faction grow in influence. The previous leader of the White Fang stepped down shortly after the world heard the truth of what happened at Belasco from the few surviving faunas."

"And after all of that, they never found the guy who caused all of that?" Ruby asked.

"The police didn't. But the White Fang did."

Yang had a feeling she was about to regret asking, but the words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

"So what happened to them?"

Blake lowered her head, refusing to let her teammates see her face as memories flashed through her mind. She remembered hearing the story of Belasco when she was young. She remembered being filled with righteous anger and vicious satisfaction at the news that those responsible would not escape punishment.

Of course, as a rising star within the White Fang, she'd been given a front row seat to the proceedings, eager but having no idea what to expect. What she saw that day had nothing to do with the White Fang she'd grown up in.

Pleading.

The pit.

Screaming.

Howling.

_Tearing, ripping, chewing…_

"…You really don't want to know."

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><p><em>Had they met a short while earlier, Weiss and Blake may well have become bitter enemies. Both tried to leave the past behind by becoming hunters, but beating up faceless goons for a good reason is little cause for angst. I imagined that it was only a matter of time (if not in a fanfic, than perhaps in the official storyline) that something would happen, some circumstance would arise that would really test them, pitting past allegiances against current relationships.<br>_

_And there's no way you can tell me that it was just a coincidence that a past member of the white fang ended up on the same team as the Schnee company heiress.  
><em>


	2. Reconciliation, dancing mad

After some mutually uncomfortable glances at each other, Blake and Weiss crawled into the room's single bed. It was much larger than the beds at Beacon, but it didn't make settling in any less awkward for the two girls. Weiss turned off the lights and laid back, trying to ignore the girl next to her, but the day's events were making it impossible to clear her mind.

"Blake?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry…for what I said today."

"It's all right."

"No, it's-"

"Weiss." Blake rolled to face the girl lying next to her. Even with the curtains drawn, the moonlight that filtered through made her eyes shine in the dark. "You were right. The White Fang, they…whatever their methods, they do what they do because they believe it will help faunas. But what's been happening here…it's just so random and pointless. There is no justification for any of it, and we have to make it stop."

Weiss reached for Blake's hand in the dark and squeezed, gently. She was rewarded with the hint of a smile.

Blake let her head fall down into the pillow, Weiss' hand still around hers…which let the other girl feel a faint vibration.

"Did you just…purr?"

"A little. I haven't slept in a bed this nice since I stole one."

Blake felt, more than heard, Weiss' laughter through their contact.

"It was a huge four-poster bed, and the mattress was so soft I sank right into it." With her free hand, Blake gestured in the air to illustrate her thoughts. "The headboard was one big piece of carved crystal, and the curtains had these snowflake patterns-"

"With little blue crystals, and white spiral posts that looked like icicles?!"

"Yes...How did-"

"That was mine! I had it custom-ordered for my 12th birthday! I was having cake right when someone came in and told me the White Fang had stolen my birthday presents!"

"Sorry? But I remember that most of it was junk anyways."

Weiss muttered something under her breath and harrumphed dramatically.

"But the bed was really nice. I liked it a lot."

…

"But then that hideout was discovered, so we had to burn it down."

Blake, like all faunas, had excellent night vision. The pillow that was swung at her head was easy to avoid.

* * *

><p>Blake burst through the door, turning towards the sounds of fire and frost. Myrtenaster was being worked hard – not hard enough. A female cry of pain made Blake run faster, outrunning her own shadow in a series of quick bursts and off a balcony to land on a fauna with a bloody blade in his hand. A slashing kick sent the only other attacker still standing through the wall, and Blake rushed to Weiss' side once she was sure they were safe, if just for the moment.<p>

"This is not…" Weiss fell and Blake caught her, lowering her carefully to the ground. "How I hoped this mission would go."

White lace was soaked with blood from a shallow gash on one leg and across her side, and Weiss hissed as Blake tied off the wounds with cloth cut from their attacker's uniforms.

"I'm sorry. I should've stayed closer to you."

Weiss seized up as Blake gave the bindings one last tightening. "Where's Ruby and Yang?"

"They're trying to keep Schnee security forces from attacking the workers. I have to get you out there. You're the only one that can call them off."

Shouting and crashing from outside made both girls look up. Something slammed into the building, and a wave of heat and pressure nearly knocked Blake off her feet.

"We need to go." Blake quickly regained her balance and looped an arm under her teammate. "Now."

"What was that?"

"Mining charges."

"How do you know?"

"White Fang doctrine. If you need something, take it from your oppressors."

"Like my bed?"

"…You've never going to stop reminding me of that, are you?"

Weiss' retort was cut short as the pain of standing up made her scream through clenched teeth. Weiss put an arm around Blake's shoulders and tried her best to take her weight off the injured limb, leaving her to hop-stagger along with Blake's support.

Leaving the warehouse was as simple as blasting a hole in the wall. Unfortunately, a familiar face was waiting for them on the other side. It took only a moment for him to recognize the two girls.

"Blake? What are you doing with her?"

"Get out of the way, Cooper. If I don't get Weiss to call off the security chief, every fauna here is in danger."

"The company will do whatever we what with her as our hostage! Give her to me!"

"No."

"Why would you betray us? What about your mission?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, and Blake blushed slightly when she saw the question on Weiss' face, inches from her own.

"When I was trying to talk to the miners, Cooper recognized me from when I was still with the White Fang. I had to earn their trust somehow, so I insinuated that I entered Beacon as part of a plan to assassinate your father."

"Was…?"

Weiss could see the gears grinding behind the fauna's eyes.

"Why would you abandon your mission? Don't tell me you actually fell in love with that madman's daughter!"

"What?!"

Blake flinched away from the shouting in her ears.

"He somehow got the impression that I was going to get close to your father by…seducing you. Please don't ask me how."

Cooper's goons looked just as confused as Weiss.

"Blake?"

"Yes?"

"We are not speaking a word of this to the others, understand?"

"Absolutely."

"Quiet!" Cooper leveled a stolen rifle at the two girls, interrupting their exchange. "Blake, you will suffer for betraying your species! Now get me the girl!"

Cooper's thugs began to spread out and surround them. The warehouse they'd just left had caught fire, and would be a poor place to fall back to. Weiss shifted and tried to get a better grip on Blake's shoulder...before she had a better idea, and lowered her arm to wrap around Blake's waist.

"Weiss?"

"We need to get past them fast. I have an idea."

Blake's eyes widened as she was pulled tight against the other girl's chest. Weiss leaned in close, lowering her voice so she wouldn't be overheard.

"Do you know how to dance?"

Slowly, a grin spread across Blake's face.

"A little."

She dropped her arm to Weiss' waist as Cooper began shouting again, spurring the thugs to attack.

"Then follow my lead."

The girls raised their weapons as one, and waltzed forwards to meet them.

* * *

><p><em>Crazy girl + nice girl is, I admit, one of my favorite pairings. While I don't really ship them in a romantic sense, there's just too much that can be done with Blake and Weiss to ignore the potential for hilarity and awkwardness. Which is almost as fun.<em>

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><p><em>If there's one thing RWBY is good at, it's over-the-top fight scenes. The idea of Blake and Weiss being forced to fight while stuck together somehow was too much fun to pass up, but there's no way I'm writing out the umpteen pages I'd need to describe a proper ballroom beatdown. Sorry.<em>


End file.
